1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data communications, or, more specifically, methods, Systems, and products for ad hoc data sharing in virtual team rooms.
2. Description of Related Art
“Groupware,” sometime called “workgroup productivity software,” is class of software that helps groups of colleagues (“workgroups”) using client devices, such as workstations or personal computers, attached to a local-area network, organize their activities or perform certain activities together at approximately the same time. Groupware typically supports collaboration among more than one user by providing communications functionality among users. Groupware includes applications that schedule meetings and allocate resources; format, send, receive, and administer e-mail; provide password protection for documents and mutual access to documents; implement telephone utilities; prepare and send electronic newsletters; administer file distribution; and so on.
Groupware can be categorized according to timing of collaboration and according to the physical locations of participants or users. Groupware applications such as voting programs and presentation support generally support synchronous user operations with user client devices ‘collated’ in approximately the same physical location. Videophones and chat applications support synchronous user operations among user's client devices physically located in many disparate locations. Email and workflow applications support asynchronous user operations across many disparate locations.
A service gateway is an OSGI-compliant host server, server software installed and running on server computer hardware. “OSGI” refers to the Open Services Gateway Initiative, a computing industry organization developing specifications for service gateways, including specifications for delivery of “service bundles.” OSGI service bundles are software middleware providing compliant data communications and services through service gateways. The Open Services Gateway specification is a java based application layer framework that gives service providers, network operator device makers, and appliance manufacturer's vendor neutral application and device layer APIs and functions. An “API” is an Application Program Interface, a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications.
A service gateway usually is a home or business server, a separate computer coupled for data communications through a local area network or “LAN” to client devices. Client devices include any device capable of adaptation for data communications, including, for example, automobiles, vending machines, cash registers, gasoline pumps, RFID readers, clocks, window shade controllers, door locks, smoke detectors, proximity detectors, television sets, radios, electric light switches, thermostats, thermometers, air conditioners, heaters, medical monitoring equipment, refrigerators, cook tops on stoves, ovens, coffee makers, water heaters, and so on.
A service gateway usually is an embedded server inserted in a LAN not only for providing data communications among client devices, but also to connect a wide area network or “WAN,” such as an external internet or extranet, to internal client devices within a home, office, or business setting. A service gateway often is an embedded server installed and running in the same physical device or cabinet with a client device.
“Embedded server” means a Java embedded server, a small-footprint application server that can be embedded in any networked device, home gateway, or client device. Embedded servers typically are zero-administration devices intended, when implemented as service gateways, to divide a network architecture into an external WAN and an internal LAN. An embedded server manages services deployed from trusted external resources to internal client devices over a network, including for example, services implemented through OSGI-compliant service bundles. Embedded servers enable deployment and installation of services, such as OSGI-compliant service bundles, on a just-in-time basis, when the services are needed from time to time for use by client devices.
All of the technology so described, the groupware, the service gateways, the service bundles, the client devices coupled through a LAN, the service gateway downloading service bundles when needed to provide services through a client device, all of this, has within no provision for synchronous editing of documents across disparate physical locations among multiple users on an hoc basis. More specifically, to the extent that groupware supports synchronous editing, documents other digital asssets subject to editing must be provided to a groupware editing application by document transfers or email ordered more or less manually and asynchronously. Such transfers must be well planned in advance or risk not having available documents useful for a particular collaboration. It would be advantageous for many reasons for users to be able to share documents and other digital assets on an ad hoc basis for synchronous editing from workstations, personal computers, personal digital assistants, or other client devices located in many physical locations.